It’s incredible how augmented reality went from sci-fi concept to hands-on reality in a matter of years. Augmented reality differs a little from virtual reality, in the sense that it builds upon the physical world. Augmented reality overlays digital content onto the real world around us. Augmented reality apps will bring an object around you to life.

Point your smartphone at a movie poster and you get the movie’s trailer or point the camera on your smartphone at a monument and you get information about that landmark. Let’s take a look at the top 5 best augmented reality apps available today for your Android device, iPhone or iPad.

5. Sky Map

Sky Map gives users an interactive map of the sky during the night. It only works on Android devices, unfortunately, but similar apps can be found for iOS devices. The app uses a combination of location data and your phone’s sensors to display star charts aligned to wherever your device is pointed.

This way you get star names, planets, constellations and various other celestial objects. It also has an awesome feature called Time Travel that lets you see how the night sky looked like on a particular data.

4. iOnRoad Augmented Driving

iOnRoad costs $4.99, but it’s one of the best augmented reality apps for drivers. It assists drivers on the road by providing a series of precious information about the road, such as collision warnings and alerts.

The app has a Visual Radar that users the sensors on your device and camera to track the distance of cars in front of you and also your speed. After it does that it provides visual and audio lane departure and speeding alerts, as well as visual collision warnings. It does this, even when other apps are open on the screen.

3. Anatomy 4D

Anatomy 4D is an impressive augmented reality app that will make its users feel like they’re part of a sci-fi movie, because this app gives users a virtual tour of the human body. You can print the image target, put it on a flat surface and then point your smartphone or tablet camera at it.

Anatomy 4D will give you a 3D computer graphics rendering of the human body and all of its organ systems. Zoom in and out on the model, view particular systems in the body and change the viewing angle by moving your phone around the image target. It’s really impressive and one of the best apps on education.

2. IKEA Catalog App

Sometimes, no matter how much you measure and you think about it, you cannot imagine a piece of furniture in your house. This is where furniture manufacturer giant, IKEA, comes in to help folks. IKEA has debuted an augmented reality app that will place any piece of furniture out of their catalog wherever you want in your house.

You get to turn it around, upside down, move it around and see where it fits best. The idea behind this app is pure brilliance and the app has already got a lot of people excited about it.

1. Google Translate

After Google bought Word Lens, it debuted one of the most amazing augmented reality apps in the world. The translation app will help translate pretty much anything! Just point your smartphone at a poster or writing and the app will automatically translate the content into your preferred language.

Imagine how much trouble this will save you when you’re on vacation in a foreign country! Grab it while it’s still free!

Do you know of any other augmented reality apps that could interest us and our readers? Share them with us!